President John Dramani Mahama has called on the international community to cancel Africa’s debts and provide compensation as part of reparations for slavery, colonialism, and apartheid, describing these as crimes against humanity that continue to affect the continent’s development.
Speaking at the African Diaspora Summit 2025 at the Accra International Conference Centre, Mahama highlighted the ongoing injustices faced by Africans worldwide.
He said, “When government officials can so easily use words like ‘gallant’ and ‘filth’ to describe our people, when they can refer to our countries as ‘shitholes,’ when they can indiscriminately strip people who look like us of citizenship that they have earned, we do not have the luxury of forgetting or of excusing racist dog whistles or explaining the overtly discriminatory and divisive statements that are made daily to our hearing.”
Mr. Mahama added that this is the time for Africans to “speak loudly and clearly, naming what has been lost as well as what we hope to gain.”
He cited Prime Minister Mia Amor-Montley of Barbados, noting that “the conspiracy of silence has diminished the horror of what our people face.”
The president also revealed that Ghana will move a motion at the UN next year to recognize the transatlantic slave trade as the greatest crime against humanity.
He said, “I know this motion will enjoy the utmost support from the entire African continent and the diaspora.”
President Mahama emphasized that Africa has suffered slavery, colonialism, genocide, and apartheid, and called for reparative justice through legal, institutional, and international mechanisms.
He stressed that reparations must include “tangible measures such as debt cancellation, monetary compensation, return of stolen artifacts, institutional reform, and transformative economic redress in the global economic system.”
The African Diaspora Summit 2025 brought together leaders from the continent and the diaspora to discuss strategies for reclaiming Africa’s historical narrative, ensuring reparative justice, and advancing economic and social reforms to address centuries of exploitation and marginalization.
